You Can't Take Me
by Eslyn
Summary: It's near the end of WWII and Prussia is at his wits end. What's going to happen? How will the war end? Will he and West meet the same fate they did at the end of WWI? Rated T for language and maybe violence
1. The Beginning of the End

Ludwig stumbled into the room and collapsed on the couch. He looked tired and stressed out and I knew that he just returned from a meeting with his boss.

"West?"

He looked at me with weary eyes and shook his head.

"It's no use Gilbert. The Allies wont stop and my boss refuses to change his mind. I don't know what to do. Everything seems to be closing in around me and no one seems to care about me."

I looked at him in surprise and anger. Through the past few months I had done nothing but stay by his side every time the boss wanted him to do something despite what he felt. Today he had tried to fight back a little and change his boss's mind but it was no use. Hitler was going to continue his needless slaughter and the Allies were never going to back down from stopping him. I was helping the best way I could because according to the rest of the world I no longer existed as a power. If I could put another army behind West's back to help him I would. I have no power, no army, and no standing in the world. The best I can do is be there for my brother.

"No one, West?"

He shamefully looked at the ground. I simply turned and walked to my room. It was easy for him to say things like that now that I was on the verge of being dissolved. Looking back on the years, I realized I was the only power being broken up. I was one of the Great 5; United Kingdom, France, Russia, Spain, and Me. Now, not even my best friends could save me. West couldn't even save me. My own brother, powerless under his boss's hand. But this isn't about me, its about him and how I can help him whether he wants it or not. I walked back out to the living room, where West was still laying on the couch with his hand covering his eyes.

"West? You awake?" He looked at me with a sidelong glance and removed his hand from his eyes.

"I'm sorry Gil, I've just been so stressed out lately. The Allies are breathing right down my back, and my boss is just as stress inducing. I know you're always there for me, but I wish the other nations would listen when I say that I can't stop what he's doing. I want it to stop just as much as they do. Whether they are blonde, brunette, ginger, Jews, Christians, Muslim, or Atheist, they are all my people. The way things are, it's going to be a repeat of WWI at the end when they decide who to blame. It will always be my fault."

"Why should it be your fault? That ass of a boss came from that music freaks house! There should be no reason why it's your fault. Tell them to blame Roddy! Things are going to be bad enough without the rest of the world sneering at us because of something we didn't have a choice in!"

"Gilbert, it's just not that easy and you know that." There was a knock at the door. "Doitsu!Doitsu! It's me, Italia!"

I rolled my eyes and went to get the door. The last thing my brother needed was that annoying Italian. He wasn't doing anything to help in this war. The invasion of France he tried to pull, ended up in complete disaster. The best things this vexatious person could do was stand around, wave his white flag, and eat pasta. As I opened the door I was in for a rude surprise. His brother, who was just as useless, was with him.

"Prussia! Where's Doitsu?" he asked as he walked passed me. "Doitsu! What happened to you are you ok?"

My brother looked at the Italians with tired eyes and a weaker smile.

"I am just a little tired Feliciano. The meeting today went horrible, and I have even more paper work to deal with and letters to send to loved ones who are now missing a husband, brother, uncle, or son. I fear that I may not get much sleep tonight."

Romano looked at Germany as if he were diseased and it might leap onto him in any second. I really didn't want them bothering my brother.

"Can I make you anything Doitsu? Pasta? Pizza? Wurst? Tea? Beer?" Feliciano looked eagerly at West. I just wanted it to stop. He was my brother and I was the only supporting him even though they allied together. I just knew that if I was still a nation, I would have been the first person West would have asked. He wouldn't have needed any other ally. This war would have ended already and the other nations would have been bowing down to us like they were supposed to, instead of blaming us for everything. I was starting to get very angry that these two had come in the middle of my conversation with my brother.

"No Italy, I am fine. If I need anything I will let you know though." West smiled at Feliciano. Romano didn't look to happy about it, but he would follow his brother to the ends of the earth. Much like I would with West. "Are those flowers for me?"

The Italian looked down in his hands, and remembered he was carrying flowers. "Yes! They are Cornflowers. I know they are your favorite. I'll go put them in a vase." He walked into the kitchen leaving me, West, and Romano alone.

"You're lucky I'm even here you potato freak. My brother heard you've been having a rough time getting your boss to listen to you, so he decided that he was going to rush right over, and I got dragged along."

As usual, my brother ignored Romano but he was really starting to irritate me. Feliciano came back with a blue vase full of the blue flowers and set them on the side table next to my brothers head. He smiled his annoyingly stupid smile, then walked back over by Romano.

"I wish we could stay longer and make you feel better, but my boss wants Feliciano and I back soon." Romano said. "Please feel better and stop working yourself so hard." Italia added.

With that, the older Italian pushed Feliciano towards the door while he was waving. I followed and shut the door the second they were out it. I turned back around to find that West had his hand over his face again. I walked into the kitchen to make some dinner. I couldn't cook as well as the Italians, but I knew exactly what was going to make West feel better: good old fashioned wurst and potatoes.

"Bruder, are you hungry?" I shouted from the kitchen. I didn't get an answer. Poking my head out of the kitchen, I could tell that he was asleep. Deciding not to wake him, I only made one helping and ate alone at the table. It gave me time to think. If I was going to be dissolved then what was West going to do without me? Would I just disappear, die, or still exist but be a normal human? It was scary to think of, and I knew the decision was going to come soon. The Allies were closing in on us, we were constantly losing battles, our boss was on the verge of going insane, if he hadn't already, and . The end was coming fast and it was already too late to try to fix things.

I put my plate in the sink and walked over to the couch. It was a chilly April so a blanket was necessary. I covered up West and went to bed myself. Maybe things would get better in the morning.


	2. An Unpleasant Visitor

I woke up to the sound of my brother yelling. I rolled over and looked at my clock; 9:45. It wasn't even noon and things were already going bad; today was not going to be a good day. The boss was probably already harassing him for no reason about paperwork or some nonsense. Why can't they all just leave us alone? I know they wont so whatever happens in the future, I will protect West no matter what. I swore the day that I found him and took him in that I would always protect him. There had to be something I could do.

"Oi Gilbert! Get your lazy ass out of bed!" I groaned "No groaning. We have work to do." Work? We? If he intended to get me to help with paper work he had another thing coming. Then again, he never asked for help with paper work. I slowly got dressed in some casual clothes and walked out into the living room. To my unpleasant surprise Roderich was sitting on our couch with a cup of tea in his hand. I glared at him and then looked to my brother. He didn't seem happy. In fact he looked more stressed than he had yesterday when he fell asleep. I doubt having "The Music Man" over here made it any better.

"You finally crawled out of bed?" he said glancing up from his tea. "Our boss has sent me to tell the both of you that he would like to discuss the very near future. I hope you are ready."

Fear shot through me like a lightning bolt. If the boss wanted both of us there was only one thing he wanted to talk about. I looked at Ludwig for some sort of explanation but all I got were downcast eyes and a face that held no hope. This couldn't be happening, not now. I wasn't ready. There were so many things that I still wanted to do. I wanted to become a proper nation again. I looked at Roderich as he got up with a smirk on his face.

"I'll be taking my leave now. Be prepared Gilbert, for you may never see this lovely home again." He laughed a little as he walked out the door. Fear was replaced by anger. If he thought I would go so easy then he was a fool. No one could get rid of me. Looking at West, his back to me, I could tell he wasn't taking this any easier then I was.

"Things will be ok, bruder. They can't take me." I walked over to him and wrapped my arm around his shoulder and gave him a smile. "I'm too awesome for them." He actually looked at me and laughed. Some how it made me feel relieved that he believed in me. I was starting to wonder when he grew up so fast. I pinched his cheek and he slapped my hand away.

"Hey, that hurt." he said rubbing his cheek. "What's up with you? You haven't done that since I was young?" I just shrugged, walked towards the kitchen and pulled two beers of the fridge. I tossed one to West, opened mine on the counter and took a huge swig. Ludwig just looked at me and sighed opening his own.

"What? Am I not allowed to enjoy a beer?" I smirked. " Let's relax for now and ignore what that fluff headed Roddy said. Who does he think he is to come to our house and tell us what to do? The boss can think what he wants too. I am not going anywhere." What I thought and what I said were two completely different things. I didn't know if I was going to be able to stay or go. Who knows what the boss wanted to talk about. We both knew the war was coming to a close sometime soon, but we didn't know what was going to happen after that. I was especially afraid of what would happen to me. On my face I had a smile, inside my head, I was scared. I was more scared than I ever was willing to admit to West. I wanted to forget about it all, but it was impossible because at that moment, the phone rang.


	3. Meaningless Resistance

Ludwig and I both stared at the phone and then looked at each other. Neither of us wanted to answer it. Slowly he got to his feet and picked up the phone. I saw relief wash over his face as an annoyingly familiar voice emitted from the receiver.

"Hello, Italy. Yes. Uh-huh. No, Italy I'm kinda busy right now. No, it has nothing to do with that. Yes I'm sure. Ok, now, bye Italy." West hung up the phone and crumpled his chair. I hadn't realized that I was holding my breath until I let it out. We were both willing to admit that we were scared.

"What did he want?" I asked.

"He invited me over for dinner and he was worried that I didn't accept because of you." That was the truth but we couldn't let Italy know that. There was an awkward feeling to the air. I could feel that we both wanted to speak but we just couldn't find the right words. I decided that if things were going to go south then I needed to make the most of the time that I had left with West. I got off the couch, walked over to him and grabbed him by the hand.

"G-Gil, what are you doing?" he stuttered as I pulled him towards the door. He resisted only slightly when I opened it and pushed him outside in front of me. "I have things to do bruder. I can't go anywhere."

"Says who, the boss? For all I care right now, that man can disappear." I smiled as I pushed him around the corner to the drive way, however, the smile immediately dropped from my face. Standing there in all his fake glory was the Fuhrer. His personal surrounded him while he looked down on us. The smirk he wore chilled me to the bone and filled me with more hatred than I ever thought I could ever feel. West froze and snapped to attention like some trained dog with its master.

"What do you want here?" I asked him. His head slowly turned towards me with his cold eyes bearing down on me.

"Is that any way to speak to me? I am, after all, the man who holds your life in his hands."

"Ha! You hold nothing! You're losing the war; less and less people trust you. You're a fraud and the worst leader this country has ever seen! You are not worth of the title 'Fuhrer'. Go back to Austria!" All my pent up anger and frustration was coming out at once. I couldn't stop myself from saying the hateful things that had been on my mind for years. What was making me feel worse was the fact that West stood there and did nothing. He quietly sits and obeys this cruel man while he's killing innocent people. I loved my brother dearly but I couldn't stand his faithfulness anymore.

There was only one way I was escaping this. I turned around and bolted for the woods. I could hear all the shouting going on behind me that sounded like confusion and orders. Above them all was one voice; West's, shouting my name and telling me to come back. His was the only voice that stayed at volume as I gained distance from my dreadful future. West was chasing me, and while I wanted to turn around and run to him, I knew he was on orders to return me. I wasn't going to let them take me.

As I entered the woods the voices died off. Even Ludwig's disappeared. The woods were really thick and they didn't go very far, but it put a barrier between us. I burst out the other side to be clotheslined but a pipe at the end of a beige clothed arm that put me face first in the snow. As I pushed myself up I could see red in the pure white. Menacing purple eyes started at me from a face with a happy grin.

"You were trying to run, da?" Four other figures stepped out from their hiding places. The Allies had finally come to play. Alfred and Arthur stood behind me, while Francis and Yao stood directly to my left and right. I looked at Francis, who was once my friend. Whatever feelings that were there in the past no longer existed. Ivan stood in front, towering over me. I knew that his innocent face held many dark emotions behind it.

"Give up Gilbert; you and your brother have lost." Arthur said.

"You can't take me!" I charged Francis knowing that he wasn't a fighter. He jumped out of the way and I took the advantage to run. I would only have to be afraid of one of the Allies. Ivan was strong like a bull, could run quite fast despite his size and snow was his element. Something hooked around my leg and back in the snow I went. A heavy figure jumped on top of my pinning my arms while the pipe slid under my throat, pulling my head up.

"You make my pleasure smile. Prey is much more fun when you have to chase." Ivan slowly got off of me, never removing the pipe from my throat. Alfred cuffed my wrists together.

"Will you leave him alone?" Five faces turned towards me quizzically. "If I go with you will you leave my bruder alone?" They all nodded. I laughed at myself in my head. In a situation like this all I could think about was West. A car approached us and came to a stop. West and the Fuhrer got out.

"I believe this matter is settled then?" the Fuhrer asked. West walked forward as I pulled off my Iron Cross. He looked pained and helpless. I knew there was nothing he could do. I handed him my pendant and gave him a salute. He looked down in him hands and then back at me with tears in his eyes. _"Ich will euch wieder sehen"_ Alfred and Arthur turned me around the lead me away when the tears flooded over. One by one as we walked away, the Allies left. The last one, was the one that I dreaded and hated the most; Ivan. I figured that the Fuhrer made a deal with the Allies in order to get them to cease. I was a simple pawn in a long and complicated game of politics and war.

"You vill like my home. However, you are not allowed to know vhere it is."

My world went black.


End file.
